Pet access doors provide an opening, usually equipped with a swinging flap, through which pets can leave or enter a home or other building. The pet access door may be set in a frame for installation in a wall or solid core door. In order to allow a means of passage for a pet through a sliding glass patio door, the door must be left ajar by sliding the moveable glass door away from the patio door frame. The majority of pet access doors manufactured for sliding glass patio doors consist of a rectangular panel designed to fill the opening created when the sliding glass patio door is ajar. A pet portal is inserted into the rectangular panel providing a means of egress and ingress for the pet. Generally sliding glass patio door pet access doors are constructed of a glass panel in the upper portion and a swinging flap pet portal in the lowermost portion encased in an aluminum frame.
A number of undesirable attributes are associated with the current art involving sliding glass patio door pet access doors. The majority of pet access doors manufactured for sliding glass patio doors require permanent of semi-permanent installations while others may require modification of one or more components of the existing sliding glass patio door to facilitate installation of the pet access door.
Current art limits the size of the pet access door to the specifications determined at the time of manufacture and cannot be modified in the field. Therefore, once purchased and installed the sliding glass patio door pet access door may be too large for young pets or become too small for pets as they grow or may not be suitable for subsequent pet needs.
The aluminum framed glass panel and swinging flap pet portal construction of the majority of sliding glass patio door pet access doors results in poor insulation quality and limits privacy when in use. Generally, the aluminum frame of the pet access door is designed to abut the moveable sliding door and the patio door frame. This configuration relies on a self stick soft rubber weather strip and the method and level of pressure applied to hold the moveable sliding glass patio door against the pet access door and the patio door frame. The integral height adjustable insert at the uppermost portion of the pet access door and the swinging flap pet port in the lowermost portion of the pet access door are also prone to air infiltration. Furthermore, the barrier to heat loss or gain through the single pain of glass in most pet access doors is inferior to most insulated double or triple pain sliding glass patio doors. When in use the sliding glass patio door curtains, drapes, vertical blinds or other privacy covering must be left open to permit the pet access to the pet portal. Leaving the sliding glass patio door coverings open in this manner may result in a loss of privacy.
Storage and transport of most sliding glass patio door pet access doors is costly and inconvenient. The majority of sliding glass patio door pet access doors are of a one piece glass and aluminum frame construction and roughly equivalent in length to the height of a sliding glass patio door opening. The size of the pet access door makes storage difficult and limits the method of transportation resulting in excessive transportation costs.
The purpose of the invention, therefore, is to provide a sliding glass patio door pet access door that, requires no modification to existing sliding glass patio door to install, can be modified in the field to grow with a pet, offers optimal insulation quality and privacy and facilitate transportation and storage capability.